Gratin Dauphinoise (Scalloped Potatoes)

This classic French dish is originally made without cheese. It is the starch from the potatoes, and the cream and milk, which give the dish its cheesy taste while the leek and garlic gently infuse their flavors into the potatoes. Of course if you prefer you can add some grated gruyère to the top along with the cream.

Preparation

Discard dark green part of leek and halve white and light green part lengthwise. Rinse layers under running water to remove any dirt and grit and pat dry. Thinly slice crosswise.

Stir together white pepper and nutmeg with 1 3/4 teaspoons salt in a small bowl. Melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat and cook leek and garlic, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

Spread leek and butter mixture evenly in bottom of baking dish. Arrange one quarter of potatoes in a slightly overlapping layer over leeks, then pour 1/2 cup milk over potatoes, and sprinkle lightly with 1/2 teaspoon salt mixture. Layer potatoes with milk and salt mixture three more times in same manner.

Place dish on a shallow baking pan and cover with foil. Bake until potatoes are almost tender, about 1 hour.

Remove foil and pour cream over potatoes. Continue to bake, uncovered, until cream has been absorbed by potatoes and top is golden in spots, 30 to 40 minutes.

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Reviews

Pinch of white pepper is all that's necessary. 3/4 t of the fine ground stuff will absolutely kill the recipe. Sub half & half and/or heavy cream for the milk, slice the potatoes quickly on a mandolin and do NOT put them in water or rinse, for you're totally depending on that milky potato starch to thicken the sauce.

I absolutely agree with the reviews about omitting the milk. I did the layers using the cream instead of the milk. I baked at 400˚ for one hour, removed the foil and dropped the temperature to 350˚ for 30 minutes. Please do not forgo the white pepper for any other kind--you can absolutely taste the white pepper, and it MAKES the dish. This is rich, creamy and delicious.

All of the reviews claiming this dish was soupy were 100% correct. After about 2 hours in the oven, the potatoes appeared done however they were immersed in a thin watery liquid. I ended up tilting the pan over the sink and pouring as much of the liquid out as I could-- hoping that the potatoes would still be flavorful-- and they were. Whew! I added a thin layer a shredded grueyer between each layer of potato, and it did not add any thinness apparently. Next time I would use only cream, no milk and probably considerably less, as well as the cheese.

I didn't have a mandolin so used the thin slicing blade on my food processor. As one reviewer pointed out, potatoes should be barely covered with liquids otherwise the top slices will dry out. Mine took more time in the oven than 40 mins since I made 1.5x recipe which I baked the day before. Popped in oven to warm up and added cream last 20mins or so... Wasn't soupy but I think I over baked as the top was more brown than golden and my cream curdled. Still tasted great but not the same presentation. I liked it b/c it's not as rich as the cheesy versions. Paired well with my Easter ham.

I am thinking about making this....it looks great but I want to make as much ahead as I can. Do you make this whole recipe or is there a point you stop? Is it good for freezing if made a couple of days ahead?

I will never understand why people make changes to a dish then rate it lower. I don't want a rating on your dish. I am giving it a four to offset the two given by LakePerch. Please just rate the recipe as given. Otherwise reviews are meaningless.

I've followed this recipe to a tee twice and it got raves from my dinner guests both times. It's so simple, looks elegant and tastes comforting. I agree, the milk and cream add a subtle cheesy flavor. It paired perfectly with my coffee-rubbed grilled steaks.

Well, now I've made these scalloped potatoes. But I really didn't follow this recipe well, because A. I added salt to the other seasoning. I also added bay leaves when I B. heated the cream with all of the seasoning (and took out the leaves before covering the potatoes with the cream mix. And C. I took on board all of the concern over the liquid that wasn't baking in to the potatoes. Since yellow potatoes are generally waxier than russets, I grated one entire potato into the cream mix before pouring this into the casserole. So, different seasoning, heating the cream mix, and adding a thickner... not really this recipe anymore. But my new version turned out very nicely.

I haven't made this yet, but I'm trying to understand.... there a point in the text of the recipe that instructs to add more of the 'salt mixture', but I'm not seeing any salt in the ingredients list. ????

Taste was fine but my family and I really weren't fans of the watery sauce that doesn't get absorbed by the potatoes. I put this in the oven twice, once for the initial cooking and again just prior to serving and that still didn't help. Taste was OK but really this is only an option if you require a gluten-free recipe.

Unfortunately I didn't have a great experience with this recipe. Not only did I have to cook the potatoes for about 40 minutes longer than the recipe called for, but the outcome was underwhelming in general. Maybe I'm just not a fan of this style of potato? There was way too much milk = soupy potatoes.

This recipe is fantastic, but I've found that I have to make some tweaks in order to make it work. Also, since I make it all the time, I'll come up with some tweaks some of you may be interested in.
For one, I don't know if it's just that my white pepper is outrageously strong, or if this recipe simply calls for too much, but I've had to cut it down to only 1/8 tsp. of white pepper or have the pepper be the only discernible flavor. (I think this may be my pepper, but I can't imagine how it could be THAT much of a difference).
Also, the cook time is quite different for me. I find that it needs to be baked for a few hours at a lower heat before being uncovered, otherwise I get browned (or burned!), undercooked potatoes.
Lastly, I've found that I can substitute much less-fatty milk and cream without too much of an effect on the outcome.
A few sprigs of thyme laid on top during the covered phase make for some great additional flavor. I also like to dot the top with a little butter to make up for the lower fat milk products and enable a more savory brown top.
Tl;dr: make sure your potatoes are soft before you uncover them, and plan for some extra cooking time.

Finally an authentic scalloped potato recipe! Brilliant! Remember to make this recipe exactly as written for the best result. Use the best cultured butter, fresh milk and fresh potatoes, when making a recipe as simple as this you can't skimp anywhere and get a result you'll love.

Mine went terribly wrong. I'm not sure if it was "obvious" that all the potatoes needed to be completely submerged but 1 hour and 40 minutes later the top potatoes are barely cooked and they are brown and crispy now. And there is a TON of liquid still in the dish.
I just recovered and turned it up to 400. I'm thinking I might spread cheese over the top, but I really didn't want to. I need to cover up the brown potato slices....
Any suggestions?